News has leaked about who Mitt Romney is considering for his cabinet posts. The National Journal has a great exposé on the findings, making the point that Romney clearly feels indebted to Republican Party loyalists (who double as 1950's loyalists minus the high taxes on the rich).

Four Texans pop up on the list. The most disturbing news is that Romney is considering Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Why's that so disturbing? Because Abbott's career as Texas Attorney General has been largely defined by his opposition to any and all EPA regulations.

Abbott for the EPA is the most intriguing. He has made it a main focus of his office to sue the EPA and work to roll back regulations on polluting industries, getting rid of carbon dioxide rules and those that govern pollution that across state lines. He is a fierce advocate of letting states determine certain things about emissions permitting and allowable pollution standards. On a number of issues, he has been joined at the hip with Rick Perry, who has advocated gutting the EPA.

Imagine next Thursday. If Romney wins the presidential election, he may well announce his imminent appointment of a pollution-supporting corporate whore to head the U.S. government's entire environmental protection arm. We would have to say bye to being able to breathe without getting sick, drink water without contracting disease, or feel any hope for the earth we will leave behind for our children. I'm not exaggerating. The man doesn't believe that America's federal government has a role to play in protecting the environment. That is an insane position.

Abbott is a radical extremist on everything. He has compared Planned Parenthood to a terrorist organization, spent millions of Texas dollars on a fruitless lawsuit against Obamacare and defending Texas's unconstitutional Voter ID laws in court, and he's exposed millions of Texans' social security numbers. He's insane, wasteful, and dangerously sloppy.

The further sad news is that even if Romney doesn't get elected or appoint this awful public official, Abbott may well be elected governor in 2014.

About Author

Ben Sherman has been a BOR staff writer since 2011. A graduate of the University of Texas, Ben has worked on campaigns, in political consulting, and has written for other news outlets like Think Progress. Ben considers campaign finance reform the fundamental challenge of our time because it distorts almost every other issue in American politics.

3 Comments

Who Better?Abbott has been such an ineffective AG he'd be a great EPA administrator under a Romney administration. The whole purpose of a Romney presidency would be to kill the EPA not to mention HHS and the Department of Education. Gotta have that money for the Pentagon.